“I still can’t believe you were selected, I thought the ‘volunteers’ were either assistants or people who paid for the privilege. You aren’t moonlighting as a magician’s assistant are you?” Gerald joked as he walked through the front door to the theater with his arm wrapped around his girlfriend’s waist.
“No!” Jessica laughed as she punched him softly in the arm. “Though after tonight, I might end up applying.”
“Fair,” Gerald gave a half shrug as they continued to walk down the sidewalk. “I gotta know though, how did he do it? It looked so real from where I was sitting.”
“Why, what was the trick?” Jessica asked as she rubbed her neck, it felt a little tingly and itchy at the same time.
“What?! You were the one up on stage, how could you not know?” Gerald asked in disbelief as he unlocked the car and opened the passenger door.
“I was in a box,” Jessica explained as she got in the car trying to adjust how she was sitting. She buckled up and waited for Gerald to get into the driver’s seat before continuing. “I only had a small port to look out of and during that time all I saw was stage lights and the audience’s reaction. All I know is whatever he did it must’ve been pretty impressive.”
Gerald started the car, looked behind and reversed out of the parking spot. “He cut you into three pieces, I thought you would’ve noticed something like that. Especially when he lifted the box containing your head right off the other two boxes.”
Jessica touched the bottom of her neck again. “That would explain this weird sensation. And why I remember the audience and lights moving but that’s not what happened. I mean it’s impossible right?”
Gerald remained silent for a few sections as he concentrated on the dark road in front of him. “I know it’s impossible, which is why I asked how he did it, to get your insight, but I guess limiting your perspective is a clever way to hide the real trick from you as well. As for your neck, it’s probably where the fake blades entered the box.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Jessica said as she contemplated it further. She now remembered feeling the cold metal touch her waist and neck but the feeling seemed to go right through to the otherside. But the metal touched her from both sides, that’s what’s likely giving her the impression the blades went straight through. “Though now I’m curious on what I looked like from your side of things.”
“After he put you in the box and closed it, he slid two flat blades into it, one near your neck and one at your waist. With the box now split into three, he picked up the part containing your head and walked around with it for a bit before placing it on a pedestal. Then he moved the other two boxes around for a bit, and even put the top half around the wrong way for a second. He fixed it up before placing your head back on top and pulled out the blades. The trick didn’t last long, maybe five minutes.”
“Wait so, would that have meant just my legs would’ve been on backwards or would’ve my torso been flipped?” Jessica asked as she touched her waistline as she envisioned both appearances, which made her blush in embarrassment. “Well I’m glad he put me back together correctly,” Jessica laughed it off.
“Me too,” Gerald said with a smirk.
“Still, it would’ve been awesome to see the trick myself, but I won’t forget the look on yours and the rest of the audience’s faces any time soon,” she said, recalling the amazement and wonder she saw.
They pulled into their apartment building’s car park and took the elevator up to the 3rd floor. It was late by the time they got home, so they headed to bed straight away.
* * * * *
“Gerald, Gerald!” Gerald woke to the sound of Jessica screaming. He quickly got up, making his head spin and fell out of the bed.
“Where are you?!” He called back, as he got up off the floor and headed towards where he thought he heard her calling from.
“In the shower!” she yelled back.
Gerald opened the bathroom door, glad that it wasn’t locked and heard the shower still running. He pulled back the curtain and didn’t see Jessica. “Down here,” Jessica said as her hand touched his foot.
Gerald jumped back in shock and then he looked down. “What the fuck!” he screamed as he saw Jessica in three pieces laying on the shower floor. Her legs were resting against the wall, with their knees bent trying to stand up but slipping against the wet tiles. Her torso was lying forward with her arm out of the shower. Her head was next to the drain, still under the stream of water, with her hair covering her face.
“Can you please turn the water off,” Jessica asked with a stern tone. Gerald didn’t move, he just stood there looking at Jessica’s body. “Now, please!” She said with more urgency.
“Sorry,” Gerald shook his head, and reached in to turn the water off.
“Thanks,” Jessica said sincerely. “I need you to pick me up and could use some help drying myself.” She walked her torso out of the shower and sat it down on the shower matt outside, wiping her hands to dry them. She scooted her legs over towards the edge of the shower as well but it was too wet for her to stand them up without slipping.
Gerald looked down at his girlfriend’s body moving. Even though he was horrified about the situation he was fascinated seeing her body still move while in pieces as well as the layer of skin where her neck used to be.
“Quick perving on my body and help me please,” Jessica said impatiently. Gerald grabbed a towel off the rack and grabbed Jessica’s head with it and brought her over to the bathroom bench. He laid the towel out and moved her hair out of her face. “Please be a little more gentle next time,” Jessica complained politely as she looked at herself in the mirror. Her eyes went wide, getting a good look for the first time. “Okay… can you uh… dry off my torso and bring it up to the bench,” she asked slowly as she took it all in.
Gerald obeyed without a word, grabbing another towel and drying off her arms followed by her chest. Something he would’ve had more fun with any other time. He then grabbed her by the under arms and placed her torso near her head.
Jessica examined her torso for a bit, touching the base of her neck. Then she repositioned her head and grabbed the hair dryer.
“How are you not freaked out over this?” Gerald asked as he watched her adjust to the current situation.
“Oh, I’m freaking out big time,” Jessica admitted as she plugged the hair dryer in, struggling a little as she didn’t have a good line of sight. “But I still have control over my body and something to focus on. Speaking of which,” she used her spare hand and pointed to her legs still sitting in the shower.
Gerald nodded and grabbed them by the waist, and pulled them out of the shower. He placed them on the shower mat and helped dry them off. He was tempted to explore further but for now he grabbed her underwear and helped put them on. He then helped her legs stand up again.
“Thank you,” Jessica said as she finished drying her hair and rotated her head back towards the mirror. She carefully reached down towards the draw and opened it, before grabbing her hair brush. Her torso almost slipped off the bench in the process but she managed to correct herself. She moved her head in front of her torso and tidied up her hair, putting it into a bun so it wasn’t hanging anymore.
“I’m ready to get down now, and finish getting dressed,” Jessica informed Gerald. He picked up her torso and put it on the floor and put the clothes on the floor for her to reach. He went to grab her head by the hair but after a look he grabbed her by the side instead. He turned her around and cradled her in his arms, giving her a view of her body so she could dress herself.
It was easy for Jessica to put her bra and shirt on, but for her skirt she had to sit her legs back down. She struggled to get them to stand back up on her own so had to use her arms to help them get up. After that, she walked them out of the bathroom, with Gerald following them to the living room.
“Thank you for letting me do that myself,” Jessica thanked Gerald as he put her head in her lap when she sat down on the couch. He then moved aside so her torso could climb up, before resting it where it should be.
“How did this happen?” Gerald asked, looking down at Jessica’s head.
“I was in the shower and my neck was itchy, I started to scratch and my head fell off, as I reached down to grab it before I hit the floor, my torso separated from my waist,” Jessica explained. Gerald gave her a confused look as if that wasn’t a proper explanation. “I guess we now know how the magician pulled off his trick last night, turns out it wasn’t a trick,” she added.
“Right, the magic show.” Gerald suddenly realized. “But he put you back together.”
“It seems like it didn’t last,” Jessica commented as she patted her empty neck. “The good thing is we know how it happened, who caused it and that I can still feel and move everything.”
“Right, I’ll contact the theater and see if I can get a hold of the magician, hopefully he can fix this,” Gerald went back to the bedroom to get his phone, leaving Jessica on the couch. He returned a few minutes later and opened up the email with the confirmation tickets to last night’s show. He found their contact details and gave them a call.
It took a little convincing but he managed to get a hold of the magician and explained the situation to him. “Okay, great, see you soon,” Gerald said before rushing back to the room to get dressed.
“What did he say?” Jessica asked as she stood up, forgetting that her body wasn’t in one piece anymore, causing her torso to fall over.
“He apologized for the situation and wants us to meet him at the theater. Hopefully he’ll get this whole thing sorted out.”
“Hopefully,” repeated as she sent her legs and torso towards the door and Gerald went to follow. “Um, Gerald,” Jessica called his attention back to her head on the couch.
“Sorry,” he said as he picked up her head and headed for the door. He helped Jessica get her shoes on then placed her torso back on her legs. She held her waist as tightly as she could and walked slowly so she wouldn’t lose balance.
They didn’t encounter anyone as they went down to the basement carpark. When they reached the car, Gerald put Jessica’s head on the roof and opened the back door for her body. “I think it’s safer if you lay on the floor, it’s not like you can buckle up, and I think having a headless body in the front passenger seat might grab some attention.” He explained as he handed her head to her torso and helped her into the car.
When they got to the theater Gerald was able to park in the loading dock, rather than down the street. He helped Jessica out of the car, who wasn’t exactly happy with the drive. Once again he helped her torso onto her waist so she could hold it together, while he picked up her head.
While still cradelling Jessica’s head, Gerald pulled his phone from his pocket and gave the magician a call, letting them know they were here. They waited at the back door until the magician came to let them in.
“Follow me,” he instructed as he gave Jessica a one off glance before leading them to the prop room.
“Alright, this should only take a second,” he pulled Jessica’s torso off her waist and grabbed one of the blades he had used yesterday and placed it on the bare skin. He then picked up her torso again and placed it on the other end of the blade. He pulled the blade out and for a second Jessica’s body was whole once more.
“It worked!” Jessica said as she touched where the cut had been, only for it to reappear, causing her torso to fall off again. “What?!” she cried as she saw her body separated again.
The magician sighed. “It’s just as I feared, the blade’s magic is fading,” he turned to leave. “I’m sorry but I can’t help.”
“What do you mean you can’t help, you’re the one who did this!” Gerald went to grab the magician in anger but almost dropping Jessica’s head caused him to stop.
“I can’t help because I don’t have the tools anymore. Like I said, the magic has faded. Fortunately for you, once something has been done it stays that way until undone, so you’re not going to suddenly lose control of your body, or die because you’ve been cut into three pieces,” the magician stopped to explain. He went to leave again but was stopped.
“That makes no sense, you restored her last night and now that’s been undone,” Gerald snapped.
“The trick was to harmlessly cut her into three, pieces. Restoration that’s a part of the same trick and usually the first thing to mess up once the magic starts to fade. Sadly there’s no indication that an item’s magic is fading until the restoration doesn’t go as planned. Which is fortunate because you don’t want to find out your magic blades don’t work as you're cutting someone, only when you uncut them,” the magician added before turning to leave again. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to rework my show, now that I can no longer perform that trick.”
“What about me? What am I supposed to do?” Jessica demanded.
“Wear a leotard or one piece bathing suit and buy a neck brace until you find a magician that can help,” he suggested as he disappeared in a puff of smoke before they could pester him any further.